# MOITTE, Jean-Guillaume [View the canonical artist record]() ## Artist - Lifespan: 1746–1810 - Profession: sculptor - School: French ## Biography Sculptor and draughtsman, part of a French family of artists, son of Pierre-Etienne Moitte. He first trained in Jean-Baptiste Pigalle 's studio, and later in that of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. In 1768 he won the Prix de Rome for sculpture and stayed in Rome from October 1771 to May 1773, before making a slow start to his career, chiefly with drawing. In particular, he drew for Robert-Joseph Auguste designs for silver- and goldsmith's work. In 1783 Moitte was finally accepted \(agréé\) by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and obtained commissions for several statues and low reliefs \(1784; in situ\) for the Hotel de Salm \(now Palais de la Légion d'Honneur\). Moitte was involved \(1786-88\) in the decoration of the barrieres \(toll-houses\) in Paris, constructed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux; however, his only royal commission was for a statue of Jean-Dominique Cassini \(Paris, Musée Observatoire\), one of the more successful works in a series of 'great men'. The plaster was exhibited at the Salon of 1789; its pose was apparently inspired by that of Jacques-Louis David's Brutus, exhibited at the same Salon. ## Related artworks - [Cassini]() - [Herodotus]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()